New Workshop Summary Explores Microbes and Our Health

A new workshop summary from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) offers perspectives on the scientific and therapeutic implications of the microbial communities that live in and around our bodies and those of other organisms.

Increasingly in recent years, scientific evidence has illuminated complex and dynamic interactions among hosts, microbes, and the environment, leading some scientists to suggest a paradigm shift away from the conventional “one-microbe, one-disease” view to encompass a more nuanced perspective on microbial ecology as it relates to health and disease.